Dr. Clifton Meador serves as Executive Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance. A product of the deep South, Cliff Meador hasn’t quite made up his mind whether he most loves Alabama or Tennessee. Growing up in Selma, Alabama, he received his MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed his residency and fellowship training at Columbia Presbyterian in New York and then at Vanderbilt.. After a brief stint in private practice, Dr. Meador joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) where he rose to the post of Dean of the School of Medicine. He then came back to Nashville, as Chief of Medicine at Saint Thomas Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt. He then served as Chief Medical Officer of Saint Thomas Hospital. Known in Nashville for his remarkable “people” skills, Drs. Jacobson and Maupin eagerly recruited him as the Executive Director of the Alliance when he retired from Saint Thomas in 1998. In addition to this title, Dr. Meador currently holds joint faculty positions at both Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Kimberly Avant joined the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance as Executive Secretary in September 2004. Kim came to the Alliance with 20 years of experience from Meharry Medical College. She serves as staff support to the Executive Director, Deputy Director, Medical Education Director, and Director of Clinical Programs. She works closely with the Meharry-Vanderbilt Student Alliance (MVSA) in coordinating activities and events held at Vanderbilt, Meharry, and in the community, and assists with planning and coordinating Alliance special events.
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Joe Baker is the Communications Specialist for the Alliance. He is responsible for the the distribution of information to both Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Before joining the Alliance in 2003, he worked as a LAN Manager with Network Computing Services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. From 1985 to 1999 Joe worked in the television industry as a post production video and sound editor. He worked with most of the major television networks and many of the not so major ones. Joe also served in the United States Navy for five years as a Broadcast Journalist and Photographer. He considers himself very fortunate to have traveled the globe extensively, visiting six of the seven continents.
Susanne Brinkley is the Director of Medical Education for the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance. Before joining the Alliance, she worked in the healthcare field for more than 30 years with experience in physician practice management, physician recruiting, physician network management, and managed care contracting. From 1965 to 1993, she served a large, multi-specialty and multi-site medical group as Chief Operating Officer. From 1993 to 1994, she worked for a local managed care organization to build a TennCare network, internal processes, and compliance procedures. From 1994 - 2000 she worked for St. Thomas Hospital as Vice President of Provider Relations to build a large, regional physician network for managed care contracting and disease management across Middle Tennessee. From 2000 to 2001, she worked as a consultant to Health Net Insurance Company (Currently known as Healthspring). In her current role with the Alliance, she works closely with both Meharry and Vanderbilt to facilitate increased collaboration between the institutions to enhance the educational experience of students and to identify cross-campus opportunities for enrichment of faculty and staff.
Fran Camacho joined the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance in February, 2003. In her role as Workgroup Assistant, she assists in scheduling and staffing meetings, committees, and workgroups. She also assists the directors with various projects and special events. Before joining the Alliance, she worked for 20 years with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, including 18 years as a Computer Operator in the Data Processing Division and 2 years in Police Payroll.
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Virginia Fuqua Meadows is the Administrative Director for the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance. Her background in business includes 20+ years in the medical field with experience in credentialing, IRB, physician organizations and special projects. She came on board in 1999 with Dr. Clifton Meador to start up the Alliance office. In her role as Administrative Director she supervises the support staff, oversees the operation of the office, manages budgets and coordinates new projects for the Alliance.
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James E. Lawson is the Deputy Director of the Alliance and Executive Director of the Alliance Foundation. A native Nashvillian, Jim graduated from Fisk University and began a distinguished career in community development. His professional highlights include becoming one of the first African-American Senior Vice Presidents of a major bank in Tennessee during his nearly 10 year career with Bank of America (formerly NationsBank). His career included 5 years as a professional business consultant and he came to Vanderbilt as Director of Special programs within the Human Resource Department before joining the staff of the Alliance in June of 2002. Jim has served on the board of directors of many of Nashville’s most active community organizations including 15 years of service, 9 as chairman, as an appointed member of the Nashville Metropolitan Planning Commission. He currently serves on the Nashville Board of Parks and Recreation.
Diana Marver, PhD has served as the Director of Research and Research Training for the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance since its inception, and currently holds a faculty position at Vanderbilt. She received her formal degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of California at San Francisco . During her more than 35 years as a researcher (most recently at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas), she has worked extensively with the NIH, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Nephrology. She received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Heart Association, was Chairman of the American Heart Association Kidney Council in Cardiovascular Disease, an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, a two-term member of General Medicine B Study Section for the National Institutes of Health, a member of the Advisory Board for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a co-editor of the journals Endocrinology and the American Journal of Physiology: Renal Fluid and Electrolyte Physiology , the developer and chairman of the organizing committee of the American Society of Nephrology’s conference series, ASN Advances in Basic Science (AABS), a Markle Scholar of Mt Desert Island Biological Laboratories, and a member of the National Alumni Cabinet of the University of Chicago. Locally she also serves as a member of the Family Selection Committee for Nashville Habitat for Humanity and the Advisory Board for the Edgehill Family Resource Center . Her primary role at the Alliance is to foster joint research projects between the two campuses. She has also worked to establish the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance National Conferences on Health Disparities.